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Sarkozy to go on trial for corruption and 'influence peddling'

Case based on wiretapped phone-calls in which Mr Sarkozy allegedly sought to influence judge and get leaks into progress of investigation.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial for corruption and influence peddling, prosecutors say, reports the BBC.

The case centres on wiretapped phone-calls in 2014, in which Mr Sarkozy allegedly sought to influence a judge who was looking into suspected illegal funding of his 2007 campaign.

The judge and Mr Sarkozy's lawyer have also been ordered to stand trial.

They have all denied wrongdoing. Mr Sarkozy's team says he will appeal against the decision.

In a separate case, the ex-president is accused of receiving campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In 2014, two years after being voted out of office, the former French president reportedly contacted Mr Azibert, then a senior magistrate at France's highest court, the Court of Cassation.

Mr Sarkozy is accused of phoning him and offering to use his contacts to secure a prestigious role in Monaco for Mr Azibert, in exchange for the information on a financing case.

The call - in which Mr Sarkozy allegedly used the alias Paul Bismuth - was wiretapped by police.

In the funding scandal, Mr Sarkozy was accused of taking cash from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to help him win the 2007 election. He was eventually cleared.

Read more of this report from the BBC.